It was happening again — just like the blowout loss against BYU and stretches of the Maui Jim Invitational quarterfinal against Chaminade. This time, it was evident in the body language.
The Oregon offense sputtered out of the gate in its 62-50 loss Tuesday night against the Saint Mary’s Gaels in Las Vegas. Then it took a nosedive and came to a screeching halt. The Ducks shot 7-of-27 on their way to a 15-point first half.
“Disappointed on the offensive end,” head coach Dana Altman said.
The Ducks (3-2) lack an offensive identity. They have the four- and five-star talent and the upperclassmen experience, but no calling card. Nothing to hang their hat on yet.
In the season’s first two games, Oregon sprayed from deep and the trio of guards — Will Richardson, De’Vion Harmon and Jacob Young — spearheaded an offense that scored over 80 points in each.
It was enough in their three wins, but the Ducks haven’t passed either of their tests against real competition. BYU blew the doors of them, and Saint Mary’s — one of just two NCAA programs to return 100% of the minutes played from the previous season — made the disconnected Ducks look like they hadn’t practiced in weeks.
Oregon had separate scoring draughts of two, three, four and five minutes.
“We make mistakes,” Altman said. “We made fundamental mistakes, a lot of it I’ve got to get corrected. We’ve got to work together to do that.”
Tuesday marked the second game in which Oregon scored less than 20 points in the first half. The Ducks finished with a season-low six assists, too.
After scoring 18-plus points in the season’s first two games, Richardson hasn’t surpassed double-digits in the last three and worse yet didn’t attempt a 3-pointer Tuesday. Eric Williams Jr. has led Oregon in scoring the last two games, but doesn’t touch the ball enough to be the go-to guy as of now. Harmon and Young haven’t shot consistently and forward Quincy Guerrier doesn’t yet have a defined role on that end of the floor.
The Ducks need to find some cohesion and it may start down low.
Center Franck Kepnang made his first career start against Saint Mary’s, replacing Harmon. A pair of early buckets from the big kept the Ducks close. Nine minutes into the first half, he headed for the bench with two fouls and things got dicey.
Kepnang brought heart — a must for a team that spent much of the evening looking, and playing, visibly dejected.
“You never have any doubt about the energy that he brings,” Kepnang’s high school shooting coach Jonathan Guarente said. “Whether he’s going to play 30 minutes like he did in high school, or he’s going to play 10 like he has at Oregon, he’s going to give you every bit of what he has.”
Kepnang finished with a career-high 9 points and three blocks in 15 minutes.
“It’s going to be tough for someone to stay in front of me and get through one of [Kepnang’s] screens,” Harmon said in the lead up to the season. “My job is to make his job easier.”
Feed the bigs more and it may make everyone’s jobs easier.
Oregon wants to shoot with volume from deep. Pour the ball down low to the post. Establish a more physical tone. Then, the threes will come.
When the Ducks began to claw back from 16 down in the second half, it was center N’Faly Dante who sparked it. The 7-footer, still on a minutes restriction after suffering a torn ACL last season, hammered a pair of thunderous dunks and protected the rim with the same ferocity of Kepnang.
“I thought Franck and Dante were a bright spot for us,” Altman said.
The Ducks face No. 12 Houston at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. If they need an example of a team with a strong identity, they’ll feel it against the Cougars’ swarming defense.
Some back to the basket offense, and more of the tenacity Kepnang and Dante showcased could be the remedy as the Ducks grapple to find themselves early in the season.
